ad-libbing
Going off-script
Ad-libbing is speaking or performing without preparation, improvising words or actions on the spot.
Actors ad-lib when they depart from the script; speakers ad-lib when they abandon their notes.
The term comes from Latin *ad libitum* (at pleasure), suggesting freedom from constraint.
She forgot her lines and started ad-libbing.
The best moments in the interview were his ad-libbing.
Speak without preparation
- freestyleWithout prescribed technique
- wingingProceeding without preparation
- vampAlluring seductress
- impromptuWithout advance preparation
on-the-spot · spur-of-the-moment · unrehearsed · unplanned · offhand · improvisational · make-do · off-the-cuff
Not practiced beforehand
- unscriptedNot pre-written
- off-bookPerforming from memory
- unmemorizedNot committed to recall
- deviationDeparture from expected path
extemporize
Speak without preparation
impromptu · on-the-spot · spur-of-the-moment · unrehearsed · unplanned · offhand · improvisational · make-do · off-the-cuff · riffing
unrehearsed
Not practiced beforehand
- unscriptedNot pre-written
- off-bookPerforming from memory
- unmemorizedNot committed to recall
deviation · digression · tangent · unprepared
stand-up
Solo comedic performance
comedy · stage · audience · timing · delivery · banter · patter · shtick · bit · routine
- behaviorshabit, aggressive, agitation, conduct, passive
- improvisingriff, riffing, jamming, jam session, freestyle
- performance skillsmagic, illusions, sleight of hand, juggling, mime
- radio announcingradio host, DJ, news reading, voiceover, voice modulation
- comedycomedy, jokes, humor, puns, sarcasm
- actingacting, act, performing, playacting, actor
ad-libbingrehearsing
Preparing by repeated practice
scripting · reciting · preparing · planning · practicing
ad-libbingfollowing directions
Adhering to given instructions
by the book · strategy · choreographed · staged · orchestrated